The first ingredients, in equal minimum proportions, in the food are rice and lamb meal. Rice is a decent quality grain, but it is still a grain and dog food products should be based on meat rather than grain.

Beet pulp is filler, and a controversial ingredient. It is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.

Animal fat is an ingredient of unidentified origin for which it is impossible to determine species, source or quality. Unidentified ingredients are usually very low quality. AAFCO define this asobtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words "used as a preservative". We note that this is the fourth ingredient and that research at Purdue University has identified fat in the top four ingredients of dry foods as a factor increasing the risk of bloat in large breed dogs. There is no information given about preservatives, but these are claimed to be naturally occuring.

With an overall meat content of 26%, this product has more meat content than is apparent in most products in this category. It is the presence of such low quality and unidentifiable origin ingredients as "animal" fats, and the lack of disclosure of preservatives that are the primary reason for the low rating accorded to this product.